FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT PACIFIC PALISADES - PAGE 5

"NASCAR Racing" Sunday (NBC, 12:30 p.m.): Out with the old and in with the new is the theme for NASCAR's top racing circuit as its season officially begins with the 46th Daytona 500. Nextel replaces Winston as the series chief sponsor, but what fans are more interested in is the "Chase for the Championship," the 10 season-ending races (following the first 26) that will determine the Nextel Cup winner. "NBA Basketball" Sunday (TNT, 7:30 p.m.): The Toronto Raptors' Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers lead the Eastern and Western Conferences, respectively, in the 53rd NBA All-Star Game.

Lexington Homes has formally opened the new Renaissance Townhomes at Mayfair Station in northwest suburban Hanover Park. Mayfair Station, Lexington's largest residential community in Du Page County, will include 239 of the Renaissance Townhomes, as well as 286 single- family Heritage Series homes. Two single-level townhouses are available: The Fairfax, 1,495 square feet; and the Dorset, 1,260 square feet. In addition, there are three two-story townhomes: The Bradford, 1,380 square feet; the Stratford, 1,555 square feet; and the Weston, 1,735 square feet.

An investment banker has purchased O.J. Simpson's former Brentwood estate, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. The 6,200-square-foot estate was sold for slightly less than the $3.95 million asking price, with the sale expected to be completed within three weeks, the Times reported, citing unidentified sources. Star Lawrence, a vice president of Hawthorne Savings, the institution selling the house, confirmed it was sold but declined to give the buyer's name or the price.

William Stephenson, a Los Angeles architect best-known for designing the homes of several celebrities from Hollywood's golden age, including the Pacific Palisades residence of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, has died. He was 95. Mr. Stephenson died Oct. 9 of kidney failure at his home in Brentwood, his daughter Cecilia Duncan said. In a career spanning five decades in Southern California, Mr. Stephenson designed homes for a number of Hollywood's leading figures of the 1950s, including director King Vidor, actress Laraine Day, dancer Cyd Charisse and her singer-husband Tony Martin, and singer Jo Stafford and her arranger/composer husband Paul Weston, according to Mr. Stephenson's family.

Acting couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are the latest owners of a California ranch house in Los Angeles that has been capturing the imagination of A-listers since Gregory Peck bought it in 1947. The pair, who have two children, recently purchased the nearly 8,800-square-foot home from producer Brian Grazer for $17.5 million, according to public records. Built in the late 1930s, the Cliff May-designed house in the Pacific Palisades section was innovative for its time and is considered typical of his trademark designs.

Three fully decorated single-family model homes are available for sale at Anden/ESR Corp.'s Fox Hollow development in west suburban Warrenville. The models include all upgrades, draperies, decorator built-in items such as shelving and desks, all landscaping, all window treatments and wall coverings, and attached mirrors. The models were decorated by Color Design Art of Pacific Palisades, Calif. Fox Hollow consists of 190 single-family homes on the west side of Ill. Hwy. 59 and Mack Road.

A memorial service for Kenneth J. MacAskill, 55, former executive director of three Chicago YMCA facilities, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in St. Andrew Methodist Church, 18850 Riegel Rd., Homewood. Mr. MacAskill, of Culver City, Calif., died Friday in the UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, after heart surgery. Mr. MacAskill had been executive director of the Palisades-Malibu YMCA in Pacific Palisades, Calif., for the last year and a half. Previously, Mr. MacAskill had been employed 23 years by the Metropolitan YMCA of Chicago and served as executive director of the Hyde Park, South Shore and 111th Street YMCAs.

By Mark Lamport-Stokes PACIFIC PALISADES, California, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Local favourite John Merrick won his first PGA Tour title by beating fellow American Charlie Beljan in a sudden-death playoff for the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club on Sunday. Journeyman Merrick sealed victory with a rock-solid par at the second extra hole, the driveable par-four 10th, after laying up off the tee with an iron and hitting his approach to 18 feet. Beljan missed the green long to the left after using a driver off the tee. He left his chip short and then, after a long-range approach putt from just off the fringe, lipped out with a par putt from five feet.

On Jan. 4, 1809, Louis Braille, inventor of a reading system for the blind, was born in Coupvray, France. In 1821, the first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, Md. In 1896 Everett McKinley Dirksen, the Senate Republican leader from Illinois during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, was born in Pekin. In 1948 Britain granted independence to Burma. In 1951 during the Korean conflict, North Korean and communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.

Six of the 10 most expensive housing markets in the country are in California, according to Coldwell Banker's annual Home Listing Report. At the top of the most expensive list: Newport Beach, Calif., which was the costliest place to buy a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house for the second year in a row, according to the June report of 2,300 markets in North America. The report considers the average listing price of four-bedroom, two-bathroom houses listed at ColdwellBanker.com.